Kathe Simon N1NYT
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You might think that my husband Al, WA1TYB dragged me into ham radio, but it was actually our son who convinced me when he was about 11 years old. Mike (now 43) was licensed, and I was constantly asking him to relay messages to his dad over our local 2M repeater. After a while, he said, “Mom, you need to get licensed!” I got my tech ticket soon after that and took on the challenge of going for my general – sure, I could do 13 WPM! It took some practice over a few months. I’ll never forget the thrill of passing that test and immediately coming home, getting onto our Kenwood TS-520 and chatting IN CODE to two missionaries in Peru for 90 minutes. I was chuffed!! I soon learned that a female voice has a distinct advantage when trying to cut through a pile up on HF. Al and I had lots of fun at our Nashua (NH) Amateur Radio Club’s annual field day effort for several years and apparently, I was an asset. Upon finishing my post-graduate studies, for graduation I asked for a tower to be erected in our backyard, and Al came through with a 105’ tower with a 40M two element beam, a six element 10-15-20 beam, and a five-band trap vertical at the top. Yeehaw! What fun! After a hiatus, returning to the hobby now is fantastic! I’m so glad we’ve become involved with such a terrific club – so many ways to get involved. I’m now a net controller for the Saturday AM Coffee Net and look forward to providing communications for area events. Who knows? I may even dust off my key and try to use/relearn Morse Code again! --Kathe Simons, N1NYT October 2021 |
